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Topical thriller, gruesome chiller to bring screams to big screen

By Lou Gaul Calkins Media Film Critic 4 min read

A topical thriller (“The Island”), a comedy remake (“Bad News Bears”), a festival favorite (“Hustle & Flow”), an acclaimed documentary (“Murderball”) and a gruesome chiller (“The Devil’s Rejects”) are the top titles opening on this fourth weekend of July. The new motion pictures (with release dates subject to change) playing at a theater near you include:

– “Bad News Bears,” with Billy Bob Thornton (“Bad Santa”) pinch-hitting for the late Walter Matthau in this PG-13 remake of the tale about a hard-drinking guy who agrees to coach a sad-sack youth baseball team. Marcia Gay Harden (“Mystic River”) and Greg Kinnear (“As Good As It Gets”) co-star, and Richard Linklater (“The School of Rock”) directed.

– “Caterina in the Big City,” with 16-year-old newcomer Alice Teghil in a slice-of-life tale about a teen-age girl who moves to a wealthy metropolitan area where the poor students are left-leaning idealists and the wealthy ones are bottom-line conservatives. During this unrated import, members of both groups try to lure her to their side.

– “The Devil’s Rejects,” with Sid Haig, Sheri Moon Zombie and Bill Moseley returning from “House of 1000 Corpses” in writer-director Rob Zombie’s gruesome sequel that takes the family of killers from the original on the road to stalk new victims. The rocker-turned-filmmaker designed this violent picture as a homage to hard-edged 1970s’ cult favorites such as “The Hills Have Eyes” and “The Last House on the Left.” Zombie pulls no punches in terms of sex and violence and pushes the R rating to its absolute limit.

– “Hustle & Flow,” with Terrence Howard (“Ray”) in a melodrama about a hip-hop artist who creates crunk music (a genre of rap specific to Memphis, where the film takes place) and believes that his compositions will provide a way to escape a dead-end life as a pimp.

The R-rated picture, which co-stars Anthony Anderson (“Barbershop”), Taryn Manning (“A Lot Like Love”), Taraji P. Henson (“Baby Boy”), Paula Jai Parker (“High Crimes”), Isaac Hayes (“Truck Tuner”) and rapper-turned-actor Chris “Ludacris” Bridges (“Crash”), won the Audience Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

– “The Island,” with Scarlett Johansson (“Lost in Translation”) and Ewan McGregor (“Moulin Rouge”) in a PG-13 thriller about clones who are pampered on a distant tropical paradise until their organs are needed for harvesting. Michael Bay, whose bombastic hits include “The Rock” and “Bad Boys II,” directed the outrageously staged $122 million film that moves along more like an amusement-park ride than a motion picture.

– “Murderball,” with charismatic athlete Mark Zupan in a riveting R-rated documentary about the members of the U.S. Paralympics quadriplegic rugby team.

Co-directors Henry Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro wisely keep the focus on the players rather than the games and provide glimpses into the lives of multi-faceted individuals who refuse to be defined by their handicap. This fascinating shot-on-video picture follows the team through a two-year period during which the players, who charge across the playing areas in steel-covered chariot-like wheelchairs designed to ram into competitors, experience the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat in both their personal and professional lives.

– “Mysterious Skin,” with Joseph Gordon-Levitt (“Manic”), Brady Corbet (“Thirteen”), Michelle Trachtenberg (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) and Elisabeth Shue (“Leaving Las Vegas”) in director Gregg Araki’s unrated drama. The plot concerns two teenage males – one believing he was once abducted by aliens; the other coming to terms with having been sexually abused as a child – whose paths cross in Manhattan after one of them becomes a male hustler.

At the buck$ office

Johnny Depp’s Willy Wonka sweetened the box office last weekend.

“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” directed by Tim Burton, opened with more than $55 million, easily taking the No. 1 spot.

Also enjoying a profitable welcome was “Wedding Crashers.” The R-rated comedy with Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson debuted with more than $32 million.

According to the Associated Press, the 10 top-grossing films last weekend were:

1. “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” ($55.4 million)

2. “Wedding Crashers” ($32.2 million)

3. “Fantastic Four” ($22.7 million)

4. “War of the Worlds” ($15 million)

5. “Batman Begins” ($5.6 million)

6. “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” ($5.05 million)

7. “Dark Water” ($4.4 million)

8. “Herbie: Fully Loaded” ($3.4 million)

9. “Bewitched” ($2.4 million)

10. “Madagascar” ($2.1 million)

Coming soon!

The major titles opening July 29 include “Stealth,” with Jamie Foxx and Jessica Biel in a military action thriller, “Sky High,” with Kurt Russell in a family comedy, and “Must Love Dogs,” a romantic comedy with Diane Lane and John Cusack.

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